ABSTRACT
China’s claim in the South China Sea is extensive, trenchant, and to a large extent ambiguous. It has disputes with the Philippines, Taiwan, Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam, and potentially Indonesia. In the past Jakarta has intentionally positioned itself as a non-claimant party in the South China Sea disputes, perhaps wisely so. However, Indonesia now seems to be more prepared to identify itself as a disputant country when it announced on 12 March 2014 that China’s nine-dash line map outlining its claims overlaps with the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of Indonesia’s Riau province which includes the Natuna Islands (Murphy 2014). Whether Indonesia does become a disputant country depends on how China clarifies its nine-dash line. It is worth noting that in 1993 the then Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs reassured Indonesia that Beijing and Jakarta had no dispute in the South China Sea; however, China has failed formally to confirm this position since then (Dillon 2011)
